Exploring the Interests and Enthusiasms of Sturgis Charter Public School ~ International Baccalaureate for All

Students (Volume 1: Summer 2012)

Dylan Ackerman Reclines in theWhale Chair He Designed

Congratulations to Dylan Ackerman, Sturgis West Class of 2015

Dylan received a scholarship to attend the Boston Architectural College (BAC) Summer Academy, a 4-week pre-college design exploration program for high school students interested in tackling the foundations of architecture and design through hands-on projects in the Boston Architectural College’s design studios.

During the summer program Dylan worked on a variety of projects including: Future City Project, Dwelling Project // Chair Project // Constructed Landscape Project // Reading Buildings and the Urban Landscape. More information is available on the BAC website: www.the-bac.edu/summer

SITTING PROJECT: the whale chair; client asked for a comfy chair for he and his 2 sons by the beach

GALLERY: flyer for opening night

DWELLING PROJECT: the artist with kids looking for a home to be built

Eva Fahey Pops by the Sea Winner 2012With Peter Richenburg

Congratulations to Eva Fahey, Sturgis West Class of 2014!

Eva won first place in the Comcast Art Scholarship T-shirt Design competition for Pops by the Sea 2012. Her design will be the official 27th Annual TD Bank Pops by the Sea T-Shirt! Don’t stop reading! There is more good news. The winner of the competition receives a $500 scholarship and their school’s art department also receives $500. Eva and Mr. Richenburg attended a reception on May 29th at MA Maritime Academy where student participants were honored. The Art Department at Sturgis West will also receive $500

Congratulations to Benjamin Brown, Class of 2014, who was selected to attend the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Conference at Bentley College in Waltham

Ben was among fifteen Stugis students who attended a leadership conference at Dennis Yarmouth High School last year. Four students from that group were chosen for an essay competition to determine who would represent Sturgis at the Youth Leadership Conference. ben hopes to develop his leadership skills through service projects.

What is my identity as a citizen of the world? There is no one answer for this question whether it pertains to me or anyone else in the world. Our identities are a reflection of who we are as people. So who am I and what is my identity?

When I was a little girl, I was always confused as to why people would try to identify me as African American. I very well knew that both my parents, my grandparents, and the parents before them all came from Haiti. I also knew that none of my African ancestors had ever set foot on American soil. So I was very confused as to how I could have possibly been African American. To relieve my smaller self’s confusion, it is because I am not African American. When Christopher Columbus landed on the island of San Salvador in the Caribbean, he thought that he had reached India by sailing west. Little did he know that the real India was thousands of miles east of where he was standing. Despite his error in geography, the Caribbean became known as the West Indies; therefore, people from the Caribbean are called West Indians. What is my identity as a citizen of the world? Well, I am West Indian. And I believe that awareness in ethnic identity can make just a bit of a difference in the way different people from different backgrounds view each other, as well as themselves. Not all Asians are Chinese; not all Hispanics are Mexicans; not all black people are African American and so much more.

This year I’ve joined my school’s key club. Key Club International is an international student organization sponsored by Kiwanis International; its mission is to help kids from around the world. In following our mission, key clubs from schools across the globe perform service projects in their local community. Currently, my school’s key club is selling Yuda Bands to help sponsor free education for students in Guatemala. Though our goal is to sell all our Yuda Bands in two weeks, we are almost sold out after just two days of selling these bracelets! I love being a part of key club. Even though I do not get to meet the kids I am trying to support, it is the satisfaction and joy of knowing that each second I dedicate to volunteering for a project is going towards making someone else’s life in another part of the world just that much easier. No matter what culture or ethnic background we come from, there comes a time in life where we just need help. Unfortunately, not everyone has the resources or the ability to help themselves. What is my identity as a citizen of the world? I am a humanitarian. From as long as I could remember, I have always felt the need to help those in need. This has developed from sharing my crayons, to helping a friend with their homework, to helping clean the environment, to stuffing boxeswith toys so kids around the community to have Christmas presents, to selling Yuda Bands for the education of kids in Guatemala. There is no greater satisfaction to me than helping others.

As well as being a part of key club, this year, I have also become a volunteer at my local hospital. Just like being a part of key club, I love volunteering at the hospital. It is probably the only thing in the world that makes me happy to wake up early on a Saturday morning. While volunteering at the hospital, I interact with some of the most incredible people to have cross my life’s path. I want to be a doctor when I grow up, a psychiatrist to be more specific. There is nothing in this world that I want more than the chance to help people for a living. The beautiful thing I find about a doctor’s career is that they get to see how patients from a myriad of different cultures and backgrounds all relate to each other on a personally internal level. Depression from a loved one who has passed away hurts the same for someone who celebrates their quinceañera as to someone who prays five times a day. Bipolar disorder works the same for someone who speaks Chinese Mandarin as to someone who speaks Russian. The need to have someone to talk to yearns the same for someone who gets really bad sunburns as to someone who can forget the sun is even there. What is my identity as a citizen of the world? Well, I am human. We all are human. For some reason, this fact is the most frequently forgotten fact in this world’s history. Just because we don’t look the same, believe the same things, eat the same food, speak the same language, or act the same, we are the same-but are different in our cultural ways. And I believe that those cultural boundaries should be explored and understood to remind us that we indeed are all human.

About four summers ago, a family from Germany rented the summer home directly across from my house for the summer. At the time, I was outside everyday practicing my soccer skills. At the same time, the daughter of the German family was outside everyday practicing her soccer skills as well. We were both shy and quiet, so it took us about two weeks before we started talking to each other. The first time we interacted with each other, we talked for hours just learning new thing upon new thing about each other’s culture. We were two girls, the exact same age, who both enjoyed playing soccer, coming from two different worlds. What is my identity as a citizen of the world? I am ignorant. We all are ignorant-no shame. But I think that is what makes this world so incredible. We all eat, breathe and drink from the same earth, but depending on where we live, we do those things in a different style.

I would love to go to Berlin and experience its world. As an ignorant human West Indian,

humanitarian, the experience would be good for me. I want to be able to dive into a country far enough from the U.S. to surf the cultural boundaries and broaden my understanding of people in different places. I will want to make an experience such as Berlin, and experience that will change me forever.

2012 Junior Book Awards

Amherst College Book Award – Abigail Titcomb

A junior in the top ten percent of the class who exhibits genuine academic curiosity and is

willing to take academic risks. Student should also show evidence of leadership potential

and take an active interest in community service.

Brown University Book Award – Alicia Pollard

Junior who best combines academic excellence with clarity in written and spoken expression.

Chatham Chorale Book Award

A junior who has made a significant contribution to the choral music program at Sturgis.

Dartmouth College Book Award – Joseph Benedict

A junior in the top ten percent of the class who has demonstrated intellectual leadership and has

made a positive contribution to the extracurricular life of the school.

Harvard University Book Award – Benjamin Duncan

An outstanding junior who displays excellence in scholarship and high character, combined with